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The City of Richardson on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of the new 16,000-square-foot, freestanding Richardson Gymnastics Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and building tours. The new facility was funded by the City’s 2010 Bond Program, and the City hopes to achieve LEED certification for the center in the coming months.

The new Gymnastics Center, located at the southeast corner of Arapaho Road at Grove Road, features a full array of gymnastics equipment and sufficient space and amenities to accommodate regional and state-level gymnastics meets, as well as amateur and competitive gymnastics training and practice. It replaces the previous gymnastics facility, which was housed in the Heights Recreation Center and experienced strong demand for community participation in the City’s gymnastics program.

“This facility is another demonstration of Richardson’s commitment to sustainability, including our goal of having all our new City facilities constructed to the most environmentally sensitive and progressive standards possible,” said Richardson Mayor Bob Townsend. “This project, and the currently under-construction Heights Recreation Center and Aquatics Center, both support the health of our residents and the vitality of our neighborhoods. We are pleased to be able to deliver such a facility and other Bond program projects for the benefit of our community.”

The new Richardson Gymnastics Center was built to serve the need of the rapidly growing gymnastics program. The City partnered with Brinkley Sargent Architects and Richardson-based Hill & Wilkinson to design and build the new facility. Additionally, the same design-and-construction team is working to develop the new Heights Recreation Center and Aquatics Center, which will be completed later this spring. The project team is seeking Silver LEED certification for the Heights Recreation Center.

In addition to a more modern design, the new Gymnastics Center will offer a significant amount of space for equipment. The facility was also built with a large viewing area for parents, ample bleachers for gymnastics meets and events, and a multipurpose room for meetings, parties and private events, all of which are upgrades compared to the previous facility.

Richardson’s Parks and Recreation Department created the award-winning gymnastics program more than 42 years ago, and today it has grown to become one of the finest in Texas for all levels of skill and ability. The program offers an 8:1 student-to- teacher ratio and helps to develop many upper-level gymnasts who are working to earn college scholarships. For more information, visit www.richardsongymnastics.com.